Sunday, August 17, 2008

Red Sox slip by Twins in the ninth

GCL Twins 4 at GCL Red Sox 5

W: A. Batista (5-1, 6.41); L: K. Nanney (3-1, 1.76)HR: None.

I've been boycotting the Red Sox due to the local political problems with a team. Mainly we build then a nice stadium which is only used for about 10 weeks in the spring and eats taxpayer money the rest of the year. We spend a mill or so per year on them for upgrades, and they decide to turn around and move to Sarasota or Orlando.

There's more but that's the sort version.

As a result, I will not journey to the City of Palms Complex this season, although I'm sure that no one over there has missed me, and so I was told by Jim Rantz that I missed "one hell of a game" on Saturday.

The Red Sox would slip by the Twins in the ninth, picking up a 5-4 win. The started out by taking an early lead off Twins starter Edgar Ibarra.

Wilfred Pichardo singled, then stole 2nd. Derrik Gibson singled out to center to score him. He'd steal 2nd as well, but Ibarra would take Casey Kelly out on strikes. Roberto Feliz's double moved Gibson to 3rd, but Ibarra then issued back-to-back strike outs to Chih-Hsian Huang and Andrew Frezza to get out of the jam and keep the Red Sox to a single run.

Juan Sanchez doubled in the top of the 3rd then moved to 3rd on Danny Ortiz ground out. Mike Gonzales' ground out served to plate him, tying up the contest.

Bruce Pugh would replace Ibarra in the bottom of the 4th, and allow a walk to Joantoni Garcia. Christian Vazques walked as well, and a single by Pichardo loaded the bags. A wild pitch by Pugh allowed Garcia to score. Pugh would then be called on a balk, allowing Vazquez over the plate. Pugh would take Gibson and Kelly out on strikes before Roberto Feliz popped out with the Red Sox now leading by two.

The Twins answered back however, with Sanchez doubling. Ortiz would go down on strikes, but Gonzales reached on a throwing error. Gibson's error also allowed Sanchez to score. A wild pitch by Wang-Yi Lin put Gonzales at 2nd. Lin's throwing error then allowed Pinto to reach and Gonzales to score, tying up the contest again. Both Tyler Landendorf and Hyun-wook Choi would fly out to retire the Twins.

Pugh would pitch the next three innings, allowing only 1 hit, but walking 4. He'd fan five before giving way to Khol Nanney.

Anatanaer Batista would work the 8th and 9th for the Red Sox, and would be on the mound when Aaron Hicks doubled in the top of the final stanza. Sanchez sac-bunt advanced him to 3rd, and Ortiz would double him in to give the Twins the lead. Gonzales and Rohlfing both ground out, letting the Sox have a chance at the plate.

Nanney would walk Pichardo, then allow a single to Gibson that moved Pichardo to 3rd. Gibson then stole 2nd. Nanney would get Kelly out on strikes, but Feliz doubled the pair in to end the contest with the Red Sox on top.

The loss would be Nanney's first of the season, coming on 2 hits and walk, while fanning 3 over 2.1 innings.

Sanchez lead the GCL Twins attack, going 3-for-3 at the plate with walk, a pair of doubles and two runs. Javier Brown was 2-for-3 in the contest. Jonathan Goncalves was 1-for-3 with a double, and Wook was 1-for-4 picking up the one hit wonder of the game title.

Hicks and Ortiz were 1-for-5 with a double each, Hicks with a run, Ortiz with a RBI. Gonzales, who finished up 0-for-3 at the plate, was still productive with a walk, a run and a RBI.

The Twins take Sunday off before taking on the South Division leading Pirates on Monday (weather permitting).

Tropical Storm Fay continued to wreak havoc in the Caribbean, and causing the game between the DSL Twins and the DSL Reds to be postponed or canceled. The DSL Twins take Sunday off as well. The take on the DSL Yankees2 Monday for a 10:30 AM Dominican time game.

The Twins on the other hand signed sixth round pick B.J. Hermsen for $650 K. The righthander will not report to Fort Myers until Fall Instructional League, which is to begin around September 22nd. The Twins also agreed to terms with 14th round pick Blayne Weller, a righthanded pitcher from Key West, Florida, High School.

The Pirates also shored up their squad for the upcoming playoffs. Sandlot Swashbucklers is reporting that the Pirates signed 20th rounder Quinton Miller (RHP) and assigned him to Bradenton. 1st rounder Pedro Alvarez was also inked with a $6 Million bonus, but was not yet assigned to a team at the time the article was written. It is however, unlikely that the former Vanderbilt University 3rd baseman will be joining the GCL team.

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The best-kept secret in the Twins blogosphere, Fort Myers native Dianna has been blogging about Twins minor-league affiliates since 2001, but has not received as much attention as she deserves. Unhappy with the level of exposure at her last host, Dianna moved her blog to Twins Territory. Other Twins blogs may touch on the minors, but Mostly Minors owns them. The focus doesn’t stop at just the top prospects, but covers all the farmhands, from top to bottom. On top of that, a rabid Fort Myers Miracle fan, Dianna has actually seen most of the players she writes about at one point in their professional careers. Few blogs can match Mostly Minors’ originality, and if you have any interest in the Twins farm system, make this blog part of your reading routine.

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